Rail bond



p 25, 1956 A. E. BRICKMAN 2,764,436

RAIL. BOND Filed Nov. 20, 1953 2 Sheets-She'et l ALAN E. ERIC/(MAN,

H/s Attorney.

Sept. 25, 1956 A. E. BRICKMAN 2,764,436

RAIL. BOND Filed Nov. 20, 1953 2 Shee ts-Sheet 2 lNl/E/VTOR. ALA/v E.BR/CKMA/V,

His Attorney.

nited States RAIL BOND Application November 20, 1953, Serial No. 393,430

2 Claims. (Cl. 28720.2)

This invention relates to rail bonds and more particularly tomechanically applied rail head bonds. A similar type of bond is shown inthe patent to Lavarack No. 2,622,903. The bond shown therein is made byforming a plug of the desired shape, drilling a hole therein, insertingthe cable in the hole, swaging the plug to the cable, then placing theplug in the hole in the rail and swaging it therein by means of a toolwhich is held against the top of the plug and driven thereagainst bymeans of a hammer. This plug is rather expensive to make and unless theplug is made large in diameter it is difficult to hold the tool againstit when driving it into position.

it is therefore an object of my invention to provide a rail bond whichis inexpensive to make and which is easily installed in the head of arail.

This and other objects will be more apparent after referring to thefollowing specification and attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the rail bond of my inventionelectrically connecting two rails;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of a single terminal of the rail bond;

Figure 3 is a view of the outer end of the bond of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view of the bottom end of the bond of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a cross section of the rail head showing the rail bondterminal in assembled position;

Figure 6 is a side view of the assembled rail bond;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the tool used in installing the railbond;

Figure 8 is a schematic view showing one step in the method of makingthe rail bond of my invention;

Figure 9 is a side elevation view of a further step in the method ofmaking the rail bond; and

Figure 10 is a plan view of Figure 9.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference numeral 2indicates the rail bond of my invention which extends between adjacentrails 4 and 6. The rail bond consists of a cable 8, which is made ofelectrically conducting metal such as bronze, and plugs 10 at each endthereof. The plugs 10 are made of malleable metal having a melting pointless than the metal of the conductor 8 and may be a zinc alloycontaining between 3.9% and 4.3% aluminum, .75% to 1.25% copper and .03%to .06% magnesium. This alloy has a melting point of approximately 780F. The plug 10 has a substantially greater diameter than the cable 8 andis tapered slightly inwardly from its outer end 12 to its inner end 14.The axis of the cable 8 is preferably arranged at an oblique angle tothe axis of the plug 10 with the cable being substantially tangent tothe plug at its outer end 12 and substantially centered with respect tothe plug 10 at the end 14. However, some of the advantages of myinvention atent O" 2,764,436 Patented Sept. 25, 1956 may be obtained byhaving the axis of the cable 8 displaced from the axis of the plug 10and parallel thereto. A conical portion 16 extends upwardly from theface 12 for a purpose which will appear later. The end of the cable 8extending through the plug 10 to the surface 14 is preferably coated orplated with an electrically conductor material such as cadmium oraluminum. The purpose of the coating is to prevent electrolysis reactionunder conditions of actual use. The coating 18 may be applied to theentire plug or any part thereof as long as it covers the end of thecable or strand.

In assembly, the plug 10 is placed in a hole 20 in the head of the railand the end of a tool 22 having a conical recess 24 therein is placed onthe end 12 of the plug with the cone 16 being received in the recess 24,this functioning to hold the tool in position. The plug is then driveninto engagement with the sides of the opening 20 by applying a hammerblow to the end of the tool 22. This provides a recess 26 in the plug10. Other means may be provided for centering the tool 22 and holding itin position while the hammer blow is being applied. The anglearrangement of the cable in the plug presents the maximum area forcontact by the tool and eliminates danger of exposure of the strandsalong the sides of the plug. It also provides a rail bond in which thecable slopes downwardly away from the rail as shown in Figures 1 and 5so that it is removed from the zone of maximum danger which is at thetop of the rail.

The plug 10 may be cast around the cable 8 in any suitable manner withthe metal of the plug 10 extending into and filling the interstices ofthe cable. One method of making the rail bond is to cast a plurality ofspaced apart pairs of plugs 10 about long lengths of cable. While asingle cable may be used it is desirable to use two cables such as shownin Figure 8. The die blocks of the casting machine are provided withapertures for receiving the cables or strand members. The cavities 28and 30 for each of the cables have their axes 32 arranged at an anglewith the axes of the cables and are spaced a short distance apart. As instandard die'casting procedures the dies are supplied with a sprue hole34 and gates 36 through which the molten die metal is forced to fill thecavities 28 and 30. The plugs are separated from each other by means ofan abrasive wheel 38 as shown in Figure 9 to provide a number of railbonds. The center line 40 of Figure 9 is at the parting line of the diecasting dies. The cut ends of the cable are then coated or plated withconductor material such as cadmium or aluminum.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described itwill be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be madewithout departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A rail bond comprising a cable of copper containing metal, a plug ofmalleable metal of lower melting point than said cable cast about oneend of said cable and extending into the interstices thereof, thediameter of said cable being substantially less than the diameter ofsaid plug, said cable being slightly spaced from the periphery of saidplug at its outer face and extending obliquely therethrough toward thecenter of the inner face of said plug.

2. A rail bond comprising a cable of copper containing metal, a plug ofmalleable metal of lower melting point than said cable cast about oneend of said cable and extending into the interstices thereof, thediameter of said cable being substantially less than the diameter ofsaid plug, said cable being slightly spaced from the periphery of saidplug at its outer face and extending obliquely therethrough toward thecenter of the inner face of said plug, the cable extending entirelythrough said plug and terminating at the bottom face thereof, and acoating of electrically conduct-or material over the said end of thecable. 5

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 4Brickman Apr. 12, 1938 Brickman Mar. 21, 1939 Deems Nov. 14, 1939 BuxFeb. 13, 1940 Febrey May 11, 1943 Lavarack Dec. 23, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTSCanada of 1953

